A Second Chance
Baekri Hyeong, the Sword Sovereign, spoke with quiet finality. “It’s all over now. Come out.”
“...”
At the old man’s voice, the blood-soaked man bit his lip. He was in a pitiful state, barely managing to hide behind a single boulder. Baekri Hyeong felt nothing but despair at the thought that everything had truly ended.
Ten years ago, the Heavenly Demon Cult—long dormant—had risen with the ambition to unify the Central Plains. Their strength was overwhelming. The orthodox and unorthodox factions, long at odds, had joined forces against them, yet it was not enough. The Cult’s masters outnumbered the alliance by nearly two to one, an insurmountable gap in power. Worse still, during their long inactivity they had planted spies deep within the great sects. Half of the Nine Great Sects had been crippled before they could even mount a proper defense.
Then the Murim Alliance Lord and the Heavenly Demon Lord, the twin pillars of the alliance, fell one after another. Defeat became inevitable. The survivors formed a band of wanderers to resist, but even that resistance ended here.
“Sword Sovereign Baekri Hyeong. If you alone die, the rabble opposing this Cult will collapse. You are already a broken man. Come out.”
“Come out? How amusing. You don’t want my life—you want my body. That’s why you’ve hunted me so relentlessly, even to the point of annihilating my clan!”
The Baekri Clan had been one of the foremost martial families of Hubei. Baekri Hyeong was their unparalleled prodigy, bearer of the Heavenly Martial Body and the greatest talent of his generation. Yet the clan had been wiped out—by an unknown group that wielded orthodox martial arts. It had not taken long to learn they were agents of the Heavenly Demon Cult.
“Come at me, Cult dogs! Even if I die, I’ll take at least one of you with me!”
Whooooom!
Baekri Hyeong ignited his innate true qi, manifesting a sword aura clearer and sharper than ever before. The Cult pursuers frowned. To them, it was merely the final thrashing of a fish caught on the line.
“He’s using innate true qi… We only need the limbs intact. Kill him.”
“As you command!”
At the elder’s order, the Cultists charged. But Baekri Hyeong was a swordsman who had reached the pinnacle. Against such rabble, even with his qi unleashed, they stood no chance.
“Stay back, Mad Demon God!”
With a single step, Baekri Hyeong sent the approaching Cultists flying. Yet they rose again as if pain meant nothing and rushed him once more. Eyes bloodshot, Baekri Hyeong carved through them without a shred of mercy. The man who had once been an orthodox warrior had long since cast aside chivalry and righteousness after becoming a wanderer.
After cutting down the last of them, he pursued the Mad Demon God and emerged onto a wide plain—only to realize his mistake.
“If you had simply joined the Cult, you would not have had to face death. A pity.”
“...Cheonma.”
The reason was simple: the moment he stepped onto the plain, he came face to face with a familiar figure. Cheonma. The current leader of the Heavenly Demon Cult, the one who had started this accursed war, and the undisputed strongest under heaven.
“Everyone you love is dead. Is there any reason to continue this pointless struggle?”
“How dare you say that!”
BOOM!
Baekri Hyeong could not contain his rage at Cheonma’s mocking words. With his innate true qi blazing, perhaps he could wound the monster. So many warriors had died by that man’s hand that their graves could form a mountain. The sight of Cheonma hovering effortlessly in the air only fueled his fury.
“Even if I go to the underworld first, I’ll take one of your arms with me!”
He poured every last drop of his power into a single strike and leapt toward Cheonma. The closer he drew, the more certain he became that his plan to inflict a fatal wound through mutual destruction had been hopelessly naive.
SPLAT!
“Take the body back to the Cult. It has already fulfilled its purpose; further research will yield nothing.”
“We obey the Cult Leader!”
Baekri Hyeong never even sensed it. Whether it was because he had been so focused on landing his all-out attack or simply because the gap in skill was too vast, the only thing he registered was Cheonma moving—and his own heart exploding.
If only… I had been given one more chance…
As consciousness faded, Baekri Hyeong regretted the life he had lived. Born with the Heavenly Martial Body, he had mastered any technique with ease. No matter how resolute he tried to be, arrogance had been inevitable. He had never truly strived for anything. That complacency had ruined everything. If he had trained even a little harder, if he had been even slightly stronger, he could have done more in the war against the Heavenly Demon Cult. He might never have watched his clan be destroyed.
I beg the heavens and the gods… Please, grant this wretched life one more chance…
His vision twisted. The world spun. His fallen body rolled limply across the plain. The last thing Baekri Hyeong saw before his eyes lost focus was one of the Cultists binding his neck with a rope.
Father… forgive this unfilial son…
The man who had been born the greatest talent under heaven lost everything. Clinging to the hollow thought that things might have been different had he only tried harder, the last transcendent warrior of the orthodox faction met a lonely end.
**********
“Aaaaargh!!”
Baekri Hyeong screamed and bolted upright the moment consciousness returned. The chilling sensation of meeting Cheonma’s gaze still lingered. His entire body began to tremble as the bitter realization sank in—how futile all their hopes had been.
“But… how am I still alive?”
Fear aside, Baekri Hyeong questioned his situation. He had died. Cheonma had torn out his heart and left him to perish on that plain. Yet why did the arrangement of the furniture feel so familiar?
“The Baekri Clan…?”
Indeed. No matter how hard he looked, this was the room he had once used in the Baekri Clan Residence—before its destruction.
“What is going on?”
Baekri Hyeong rose from the bed and stood on the floor. Then he froze again. The height of his gaze was noticeably lower than it should have been.
“What the—!”
Panicking, he caught sight of his reflection in the window and stood rooted to the spot. This was impossible. He had never heard of such a thing happening anywhere in the martial world. The face staring back at him from the glass was…
“I’ve become a child!?”
It was unmistakably that of a young boy. How could this be? A man whose heart had been pierced by Cheonma had returned to life—whole, and younger.
“What in the world happened? Did that prayer actually work?”
In desperation he had prayed to the heavens with all his heart, begging for another chance, pleading for time to set everything right. It had been nothing more than a wild delusion born of despair. Yet the situation before him left no other explanation.
“Brother, are you awake?”
“..!”
Baekri Hyeong flinched violently at the voice he had thought he would never hear again. Before he could even process his own regression, that voice reached him. The woman’s tone grew urgent.
“Baekri Hyeong! Is something wrong? I’m coming in!”
The woman flung the door open, her face filled with worry. Baekri Hyeong looked at her and tears streamed down his cheeks. She looked a little younger than in his memories, but it was a face he could never forget.
“Are… are you crying? What happened?”
“...”
Alarmed, the woman knelt to meet his eyes. Though she was known throughout the clan for her cold-blooded nature, she showed boundless affection to her own blood. Baekri Hyeong had so much he wanted to say, yet he forced his emotions down and spoke quietly.
“I had a nightmare. Everyone… everyone died.”
“It’s all right. The entire clan will be your strength, and no matter what happens, our family will never fall.”
“...”
“So dry your tears, my precious son.”
“...Yes, Mother.”
Baekri Hyeong wanted to tell her how much he had missed her, but he could not. Instead, he wept and buried himself in her embrace. For whatever reason, time had reversed. He was the only one who knew the future.
This time, I will never lose.
He would never let his loved ones be taken from him again. Clinging to his long-missed mother, Baekri Hyeong sobbed, vowing that the same history would never repeat itself.